Are you mocking me?
by thedreamclubmurders
Summary: Caroline wakes up the next morning and reflects on her decision to let Klaus save her. Ironically, he shows up. three-shot.


Read **&** Review. It makes the whole thing worth it for me when I get reviews.

This originally started as a one-shot, but since there's a few more days til a new episode, I might expand this to a three-shot.

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><p>She could not turn off the guilt.<p>

It weakened her, making it impossible to free-fall and yet unbearable – humanly unbearable.

_I don't want to die_…

Those words would be her criticism for the centuries to come. Why couldn't she have been stronger? Why couldn't she have wanted to die?

And then there was Tyler.

He was the one who did this to her, but Caroline could never blame him. His face as he explained how he understood her decision played in a loop every time she blinked. He wanted her to know that he did not choose to be Sired, but that there was nothing to be done. She found the whole thing ludicrous. How could he be bound to _Klaus_?

Now look at her.

Instead of putting on the bracelet, she shoved the box under her pillow and went downstairs to busy herself with making tea. It would not be long until someone – probably Matt or Elena – stopped by to check on her, and she wanted to practice being okay before they showed up.

She strained to smile as she walked down the stairs, grabbing a sweatshirt from the railing as she ascended. Caroline slipped it over her pajamas, suddenly aware of how much she missed the feeling of being cold and then putting on something warm. She did not feel temperatures in the after life.

This thought, and its nagging sadness followed her into the kitchen, distracting Caroline so much that she did not even realize someone else was there until she walked into them.

Caroline gasped, instinctively human in her reaction as she jumped back, and this made the intruder laugh.

"You're a vampire, you're practically immortal, and you're still afraid of shadows." Klaus smirked as he leaned against the counter, standing between Caroline and the sink.

She stiffened her jaw, maneuvering around him and filling a teapot with sink water. "Not all of us relish in being monsters. What are you doing here?"

"You think I relish in this?" He snapped at her.

Caroline was surprised. She had expected him to further instigate, as he appeared to enjoy chatting with her like it were a game. "_There's a whole world out there_," she mocked his accent, "please, you eat this stuff up."

It took her a moment to realize she was being obnoxious, but it took half the time to discover she did not care. Caroline feared the overwhelming sensation of guilt for an eternity more than she feared Klaus.

He did not speak for some time, instead watching her as she put the teapot on the stove and turned it on. Finally Caroline's hands were empty and there was an opportunity for him to grab her wrist, which he did delicately. "Why aren't you afraid of me? You were yesterday." It sounded like lover's concern rather than a threat. Caroline frowned at him, turning her gaze to his strangely soft grip on her arm. "I don't know, I thought you said I'm too scared of things, now you're saying I'm not scared enough," she pulled her wrist out of his grasp, sighing loudly. "Make up your mind."

"You are neurotic." Klaus observed with a smile; an expression that made her even more dubious of him.

"You have family issues. Everything is intensified for us, get off my back okay?" She threw her hands up in frustration at the end, pushing past him to go check on the boiling water.

"I'm not as bad as you think I am. It's been unfortunate, I'll admit, that you only know me from my temper. When you've been around as long as I am, human life is a resource, a means to an end. I forget how upset killing can make people." He laughed at this last part.

"You're sick," her voice cracked just as the teapot whistled. She pulled out a mug from the cupboard above the sink, and as she turned back towards the stove Klaus stepped in front of her.

"Can't you see it from my point of view? You're a vampire, but you were recently human. You haven't adapted yet. I am an Original, sweetheart. My only comrades in this immortality are my family. You have become a vampire thousands of years into their existence. You have folklore and legends, and other vampires, millions of subjects to record. I had my family. They are me." He had advanced on her, pushing them both into the fridge. There was a flicker of desperation in his face; a jutting contrast to his steel eyes, determinedly holding her gaze. His eyes always made him seem so lost, so hidden somewhere beneath rubble and fog and darkness and thousands of years of grudges.

Caroline breathed slowly. She did not want to understand him, she did not want to make sense of his unwarranted explanation of himself. She wanted to hate him along with Elena and Stefan and the others. But, in that small moment between Klaus' desperation and her disgust, Caroline saw a sliver of empathy.

He must have noticed; Caroline never realized how telling her face was. Klaus reached a hand up and stroked her cheek, lifting her gaze up to meet his. "I'm just the villain in your story, sweetheart."

"The water is boiling." She stated blandly, avoiding his gaze. Klaus stepped aside, dropping his hand from her face.

She put the mug down next to the stove, turning off the heat as she started to pick up the teapot. The handle burned her skin, and Caroline gasped in pain and quickly pulled her hand away. Next to the sink was a towel, and she reached for it.

Klaus moved to stand beside her, using his own hand to lift the teapot and pour boiling water into Caroline's mug. His skin was literally frying from the heat contact, and she could see the redness.

"Doesn't that hurt?" She whispered, and yet somehow it felt like a shout.

"Sure, but it's not like it can kill me." Klaus smiled.

Caroline allowed herself an extra moment to observe the odd expression, wondering if Klaus had always seemed so foreign with a smile or if he was really being honest about his intentions. He noticed her staring, and this time put both of his hands on her cheeks. He whispered, "Caroline."

"You need to leave." She put the mug down on the counter, her hand unsteady.

"Caroline," Klaus repeated in a whisper.

"Leave."

"Don't punish yourself."

"What?" She snapped her head up at him.

"Don't punish yourself for choosing to live." Klaus stared at her, expression unreadable.

"Are you mocking me?" Her voice was a whisper now too. Klaus moved his hands from her cheeks to her jawline, then down to her neck. He moved her hair to one side, exposing the porcelain skin of her throat. Caroline watched him with slow, paralyzing breaths as he moved his mouth closer to her skin. Would he really kill her now? Would he really be so sick to save her and then kill her now?

Klaus touched his lips to Caroline's neck, and he breathed in. He held himself against her for a few seconds, then with a gentleness that surprised Caroline's rigid body, he kissed her skin.

"No." He finally answered.


End file.
